Guide to the W. H. Brooker U.S. Civil War diary, 1863-1866
MS 126

Although the authorship of the diary is attributed to W.H. Brooker, internal evidence makes this attribution doubtful. The author lists his pay as $11.00 per month-- a private's pay-- while a series of notations in 1866 mention Brooker as a doctor. Furthermore, there are at least three distinct styles of handwriting in the book; the one which is most likely to be attributed to Brooker is the least common, appearing on the title page and at the hiatus between two other styles of handwriting. It is very likely that the author of the main portion of the work was killed on 22 June 1864. After the last entry, Brooker's handwriting appears in the beginning of a poem which is copied over at length near the end of the diary. After the 22 June 1864 entry and poem there is a page missing and a distinctly different handwriting. Finally, in the end of the book there are accounts kept from 1866 for what appears to be a rooming house in which Dr. Brooker was a guest.

From these changes in handwriting and from internal evidence, the following reconstruction is most likely: The author of the idary was a private in the 39th Georgia Regiment, Cumming's Brigade, Stevenson's Division, Army of Tennesee. He fought in the Chattanooga campagin, in the Battle above the Clouds, and at Missionary Ridge. Retreating with his unit, he fought in holding actions against the North's Atlanta campaign, finally falling at Kennesaw Mountain. His book was picked up by a fellow soldier, perhaps in the hospital with him. Both soldiers apparently died, and the book came into the hands of W. H. Brooker, who was possibly the attending physician. After the war Brooker, or perhaps his landlord, used the book to keep accounts in.

The diary of W.H. Brooker is a small (3 1/2" × 2"× 1/4") leatherbound booklet in which annotations in pencil have been made. Most of the entries date from 6 October 1863 to 22 June 1864. The diary was kept, for the most part, by Southern private in the Army of Tennessee, and it describes day-by-day troop movements and military actions.

Series I: Diary

For the most part, this is a subject index, with numbers indicating diary page numbers. The names of persons who have been tentatively identified are listed (those whose full names appear or whose rank is higher than major). Military units listed are often by the names of their commander.